mallet

[mal-it]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mallet ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a hammerlike tool with a head commonly of wood but occasionally of rawhide, plastic, etc., used for driving any tool with a wooden handle, as a chisel, or for striking a surface.

the wooden implement used to strike the balls in croquet.

Polo. the long-handled stick, or club, used to drive the ball.

Origin of mallet

1375–1425; late Middle English maillet < Middle French, equivalent to mail maul + -et -et

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mallet

baton, business, staff, club, rod, spice, sap, cudgel, works, bludgeon, mace, blackjack, truncheon, hammer, nightstick, quarterstaff, hickory, shillelagh, billy, swatter

Examples from the Web for mallet

Contemporary Examples of mallet

Carlos Gracida 53, was killed in a freak accident, after his horse was hit on the head by another player's mallet.
William and Harry's Polo Mentor Killed in Freak Accident
Tom Sykes
February 27, 2014
“If they [the owners] want to get their tires, that will have to be negotiated,” said Mallet.
The French Boss-Nappers’ Last Stand
Christopher Dickey
January 7, 2014
He had to use his mallet to push himself back on board his polo pony, according to a report in today's Daily Express.
William Nearly Falls Playing Polo
Tom Sykes
May 30, 2013

Historical Examples of mallet

Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than three minutes after we got alongside.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
A stroke of the mallet may be more effective than the sculptor had hoped; but it was intended.
A Dish Of Orts
George MacDonald
But the chisel slipped, the mallet fell too heavily, and he stopped.
The Manxman
Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for mallet

mallet

noun

a tool resembling a hammer but having a large head of wood, copper, lead, leather, etc, used for driving chisels, beating sheet metal, etc

a long stick with a head like a hammer used to strike the ball in croquet or polo

mainly US a very large powerful steam locomotive with a conventional boiler but with two separate articulated engine units

Word Origin for mallet

C15: from Old French maillet wooden hammer, diminutive of mail maul (n)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mallet

late 14c., from Old French maillet "mallet, small wooden hammer, door-knocker," diminutive of mail, from Latin malleus "a hammer," from PIE *mal-ni-, from root *mele-, *mel- "to crush, grind," with derivatives referring to ground material and tools for grinding (cf. Hittite mallanzi "they grind;" Armenian malem "I crush, bruise;" Greek malakos "soft," mylos "millstone;" Latin molere "to grind," mola "millstone, mill," milium "millet;" Old English melu "meal, flour;" Albanian miel "meal, flour;" Old Church Slavonic meljo, Lithuanian malu "to grind;" Old Church Slavonic mlatu, Russian molotu "hammer").